2007 25hrs of Thunderhill

[Damn True]

The longest and toughest motorsports event in North America was held this last weekend. In conditions that could be described as brutal 72 sports cars battled for 25 hours in sub-freezing night time temps, howling winds, rain and even snow for a few minutes.

I'm sun/windburnt, my voice is thrashed, my hands are cracked and bleeding, my back, knees, shoulders and ankles are killing me, my nose is bleeding every time I sneeze but I could not be happier.

Wow, wow and just wow.



That was one of the most amazing and nerve wracking experience of my life.

As mentioned I served among the fine crew of the Team BiggsB Enterprises #55 Miata.





Our drivers included; Andrew Caddell
,
Todd Lamb
,
David Barr
, Kim Wilcox

and Charles Mathes
.

Our drivers were able to combine blistering lap times (Andrew, Todd and David were able to knock down 2:06's day or night. The SM lap record at T-Hill is a mid 2:05.) and remarkable consistancy all while preserving the car. As a group we were able to run laps right around 2:09 at will without stressing tires, brakes or driver.

Our crew had an average of 3 years experience at the 25hr and we went in feeling that we had a system in place that could bring us to the podium.

Our competition absolutely refused to make it easy on us though. The race began with the Wheels America #05 Miata out front but they had reliability issues early on that removed them from contention. Allowing us into a lead that we would not surrender. However, it was by no means easy. The #04 Market Scan Motorsports Miata had us covered like a wet blanket through much of the first 12hrs. They never allowed us to gain more than a 2 lap advantage. Sadly, they succumbed to a blown engine sometime in the middle of the night. The #68 Team Kumho-1 Miata entry then stepped up their game and gave us an equal challenge. We were never able to open up more than a 2-6 lap advantage. The cushion fluctuated due to our differential pit cycles. We kept a close eye on them through the entire event as we felt they were the biggest threat.

The car was running like a top, the drivers were rock-solid, fast, safe and consistant and by the 12hr mark we felt like we were in a position where no other team could beat us, unless we made a mistake. And that friends, is a tough spot to be in. All it would have taken was a couple of drops of spilled fuel, a pit window pushed slightly too far, a minor off-track excursion, the slightest contact with another car...any mistake on our part would have cost us the win. Our plan through the race was to go as slowly and carefully as possible in the pits and allow the drivers to go like hell (without hurting the car) on the track. It worked, but not without a couple of dicey moments.

Before the race ever started we discovered that we'd gotten a bad batch of wheel studs from ARP. Six out of the eight studs on the rear of the car stripped their knurls resulting in a loss of lug torque and rear tires that resembled shopping cart wheels. So I guess Andrew wasn't full of it when he told us it was "a bit loose" pretty much everywhere. We swapped rear hubs with spares in no time prior to qualifying but the spares presented a problem of their own. The spare hubs had OE wheel studs in them which were much shorter than the ARP studs. The problem was that our Kazera wheels had a much thicker mounting flange than the OE wheels. We didn't have adequate thread engagement on the wheel lugs and the slightest error in performing a tire change would have resulted in a cross-threaded or stripped stud and a sad ending to our effort as we could clearly not afford an extended trip behind the wall.
The first seven hours of the race went very well. Then David Barr called in reporting that the car had began to handle poorly, very poorly. We were afraid that the wheel stud problem that we'd found on the rear had shown up at the front end as well.

We brought him in and found a delaminated tire. Plenty of rubber on the tire, but a 4" wide band around the center of the tire that went away...somewhere...and was corded.
That was a close one.

Then at about 3am the car got loud. Really loud. The driver called in thinking we'd lost the exhaust south of the header. The downpipe had come loose from the header flange but thankfully it had not come completely off. We were able to bring it behind the wall, zap a couple of nuts onto the header-downpipe flange and send it back out. Less than a minute behind the wall.
Another close call.

The remainder of our stops were planned and routine.

Tom did a fantastic job with the fuel. He ironmaned the whole thing and never spilled a drop. I did that last year. Tom is a stud. Driver changes went without a hitch as well. Due in no small part to Tom's prep of the belts and com-cables.

Team Kumho-1 gave us quite a run and forced us to be perfect at every step if we wanted to beat them. The combination of a superbly prepped car, a fantastic crew and fast, consistant and consummately professional drivers allowed us to do just that.

http://www.livefromthe25.com/index.html

[MrQuick]

nice Job, man thats a race.

Im thinking about the LeMons next year....

[Damn True]

BTW, we did 605 laps at Thunderhill. Which is the same distance as San Francisco, CA to Kansas City, MO.

[mpozzi]

nice Job, man thats a race.

Im thinking about the LeMons next year....

Count me in if you need a shoe behind the wheel. Dave, too!!

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

[Damn True]

More 25hr love:


That is a Factory 5 GTM in the foreground. The only one in the world set up for racing. The only one in the world set up with a center drive configuriation. The only one to finish a 25hr enduro. The guys had their share of bad luck though. Their shift linkage came apart and they only had 4th gear for about the last 1/3 of the race. Porsche 993 out in the distance. They were in the pit next to us. Very fast car, but they had some bad luck when a 3-series drove over their back end. Crunched the bodywork, bent a rear upright and tore the wing off. Slowed them down a lot and caused them to eat up rear tires very quickly.


The E1 winning Mazda MX-5. Miata's are good. MX-5's are better. Nice cars. The MER team was super solid.


Driver change with one of the two Miller Motorsports FR-500S cars. They both ran like swiss watches. This one had a smaller cell and required more frequent pit stops and therefore finished further back. Nice package, especially for only $75k.


Midnite snack in the BiggsB Motorsports pit. Kim Wilcox on the left, Bluegrass Biggs center, yours truely on the right. Took a while to Q up the Tri-Tip at 31 degrees.


Dawns early light over turn 5.


Why is club level endurance racing cool? Because you get to race against guys that live across town and against pro's that race at the highest level. Yes friends, that is a Rolex Daytona Prototype on the same track with Spec Miata's. Those guys passed us 53 times and each time were perfect gentlemen.

More later.

[Damn True]

Before:



The Pacific Power Porsche 993. Fast car, bad luck.

After:



One of the Miller Motorsports Mustangs and a Factory Five Cobra.


The TC Motorsports Bimmer. Strong team.


Evans Racing Ford Focus. Neat car, nice guys. The focus however is not a platform that is up to snuff for this kind of racing. They had a ton of trouble surrounding brakes and 1/2-shafts.


PDQ Motorsports in their Sophomore effort. Strong team. Well built car.

[Damn True]

Some video to give you an idea of the crazy variety of cars in the field of 72:

[Damn True]

Some great photos of our little hot-rod here:

http://www.livefromthe25.com/pictures.html

All the class winners:

http://www.nasa25hour.com/2007-Results.php

Offical photos from the 25 site:

http://tavernetti.smugmug.com/galler...68/1/228626424

[69Nova]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing True.

[Damn True]

Overall winner


Screamin fast Radical. They made an ill-timed pass and collected a Bimmer in turn 14 ending their day.


One of the two "Green Alternative" Car & Driver Norma's. Stupid fast, tons of DF able to pass inside, outside, off camber anywhere. Not as reliable as the Crawford though.


Little bit of lockup from a SBC powered 944.


The aforementioned Pacific Power Porsche and a drop dead gorgeous Tiger Racing M3.

[Damn True]

One of 3 RX-8's in the race. They didn't fare well.


The spice of life. 2 C&D S2000's, an Acura, a Norma, an old RX-7 and an ASC Stock Car.


Scion's for road racing....er.....the couldn't keep the right front wheel on the thing. Fell off three times.


Racing into dusk


No time to be afraid of the dark

[Damn True]

More great pics here:

http://tavernetti.smugmug.com/galler...68/1/228626424

[Fawkes]

The TC Motorsports Bimmer. Strong team.

The Sparacio's and their team are excellent drivers, and they have a strong crew to back them up. I remember Carlo starting out auto-x'ing in his Cobra.

[Damn True]

More nice photos here:

http://gloryracing.com/galerias/25hr.../index.htm#115